I edited your post and added in a link to the .Net uninstall tool from Microsoft, MStrobel.

I've got work in a minute, but i'll download Supremacy when I get home tonight.

Ooh, good call, Mattress. Those uninstalls can be tricky, especially with the earlier prereleases. That tool is a lifesaver.

So, I have tried it right now and it runs quite nicely. I can't wait for a real demo.

As you said, the shipyard is quite "effective", it is weird that 10 ships are coming out of the shipyard in one turn. So after turn 10 I had already a big fleet in orbit around Romulus but I could not attack

I do not know if it is a bug: you said it is possible to extend the ship ranges with offline shipyards, but I didn't even need that, I could fly beyond the yellow lines (I would guess that these are the shipranges) and I had only my Sol System.
Will there ever be static ship range lines like in BotF (green, yellow, red), or will it stay this way. I hope it will be like in BotF.

Another point: I miss the "double click on the system to get in the systems view", I hope you won't forget that.

I wonder, is there a download counter.

I really have to applaude, Supremacy really looks great, and like others have already said, it is the real BotF2 for me. Keep up the good work.

I agree about missing the click twice to enter system view on a system on the map.

The game plays ok but is a bit confusing since its a new game as even tho its like botf theres ton of new stuff and a few things are done differently.

One suggestion tho mike, the movement lines when moving a ship, if you can make them 50% transparent. Might help them look better as there rather strong on the eye and distract when using them.

I do like the map scroll bars, it will make moving from one side of galaxy to the other easily and quickly compared to push sides of screen in botf or using arrow keys which took ages.

Also about using netframe 3.0 is there not someway to just incorporate the neccasary files into the game during install? As i duno about the others but i didnt like the idea of installing it in the first place and also it took about 10 mins to install which i didnt like. Just seems too much bother thats all.

Overall, very nice.

mike when you release little demos like this let me know so i can post the news on the front page, as you know people are forever asking for news

I've already talked to Mike about this, but this demo is AWESOME. There are some issues with it, such as the the planet tooltip flickering when you mouse over a rotating planet, some graphics issues with the build queues when switching colonies, and other things that I won't really get into.

I must also second the double-click to enter system screen ability that BotF1 had. Otherwise, for an early pre-pre-pre-alpha, this is really top-notch.

However, I think the .NET 3.0 requirement would have to remain. Since the .NET framework contains some sensitive files that interface directly with the OS, it would be a pretty big problem to attempt to duplicate them depending on which parts of the framework it is requiring. However, whether the game installs them or you get it from Microsoft to install, it's really a minor detail where the files come from for the user, but it could be an issue if the .NET framework gets packaged with the game (yay licensing!) Plus, I'd assume that the majority (again, majority, not all) of home-users will install the .NET framework (assuming they bother to update their computers at all) so it'd be a safe prerequisite. I do know one or two people who have a grudge against the .NET framework. But that's not really any different than the hardcore Mac users that have a grudge against Microsoft. To each their own.

Nah, it wasn't bothering me, I just wondered if you knew about it. It's a little bit unusual for a non-Defiant Federation ship to Cloak, that's all.

Stupid question; how can I tell what version of XP (normal or 64 bit) that I am using?

Chances are you're using a "normal" (32 bit) version if you must ask. A 64 bit version of XP is only for use with 64 bit processors (AMD 64 and the like).

Although, I'm not sure if dual-cores utilize 32 or 64 bit XP. I haven't done too much research into dual-cores, although I do know they have 64 bit pipelines (so I'd guess 64 bit XP). I could be wrong here as I've done very little research on dual-cores.

However, if you have a Pentium 4 that's almost 2 years old or older or an AMD that is not a 64 bit CPU, chances are you have 32 bit.

In theory, the 32-bit version should work regardless of what version of Windows you're running. As Azhdeen said, if you don't know for sure, chances are you're 32-bit anyway.

I'm loving that demo, and I just got my system back up and running with VS8 so I can do more on those XML and script files mstrobel.

I'm having some minor graphical artifacts in the Systems screen in the Production section. The empty tabs have a thin "full" line on the right side of the tab. It's only one pixel wide, and it may be just the fact that I have to run in 1440x900 res.

One other thing (and I'm also ummm...forthing(?) that double-click on systems feature), I miss the F keys and ESC functions. F1 was the Main screen, F2 was the Systems, and so on. Also the ESC button would take you from any screen, right back to the main galaxy, and if you pressed it on the galaxy screen, you'd get the menu. Nothing too hard to program, just a convenience feature is all.

About 64-bit computing, my Core 2 is a 64-bit Dual Core processor, but I don't have Windows XP x64 Edition (very few people do) so the fact that my Proc can handle 64-bit instructions doesn't mean anything. The OS can't, so that's that.

The way you find out your OS is by right clicking on the My Computer icon and clicking Properties. Under the General tab it will show your edition of Windows. But as mstrobel says, 32 bit version should work regardless.

Raven, can you send me screenshot of the visual artifacts you're getting? It shouldn't be an issue with your resolution, as I run 1440x900 as well. Thanks for the note on those keyboard shortcuts--they'll be easy to implement, and I didn't even know they existed in BotF. Thanks again for working on that XML for me .

No prob, I'll attach it to a new post when I get home.

One other thing I noticed is that the System information (Name, Pop, Growth, etc...) disappears when you go into the Systems view. I'll attach a screen of that too if you want.

I get some lines when i zoom out of the galaxy screen.



Edit - Nvm as mike said there the seperator lines for the quadrents.

Skeeter: Those white lines on the grid are the quadrant axis lines. They mark the divisions between the four galactic quadrants (Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma).

Raven: I disable the system stats in the planets view in the system management screen. I'll probably add them back once I figure out how I want to redo them. At the moment, larger systems get scaled down quite a bit at lower resolutions, and the class letters beneath the planets become difficult to read. I'm debating whether to add the system stats to the left-side panel of the System Screen as an alternative (under a heading "Population Info", which would include race, population, max populaton, growth rate, morale level).

Added a new version of with a couple bugfixes and a simple music engine that features different music tracks on each screen. Your game also auto-saves each turn, so if you run into any interesting bugs, you can send me a copy of your savegame file. Sorry, no manual game saving at the moment, though you can always copy and rename your auto.sav file.

Will look up this update soon, bit tired atm since its 5am. :p